The Dyeing Spinster

Yesterday my hubby and I went to our ultrasound appointment. And found out we are having a boy! Yay!

 

It was amazing watching him. He was quite active during the whole appointment - he kept flipping and wiggling and I swear he even waved once too hehe.  And he was very obliging about showing his boy parts so we are sure it’s a little guy. =) We are so excited!  Now we can start decorating and buying things! Last night we even went out and bought the crib bedding and a pack n play playard. Wil is building the crib and it is almost finished.  I think he just has the finishing coat to do and then assemble it. He was journaling his progress, but he doesn’t have it up to date - anyways you can read that here if you are interested: http://www.wilwa.net/wil/content/view/18/33/ . So lots of baby fun going on around here lately!

Since it has been a while since I have posted but I have a few fiber photos to share.  For my guild’s last meeting, I was asked to put together a demo on drum carding.  So I put together a handout on the basics and two ways of using color - layers and stripes.  Everyone really enjoyed it and when the demo was over, we did a group project.  Anyone that wanted to participate brought in an ounce of fiber. We split into 2 groups because of size and colors brought.  Then each person received about a fifth of an ounce of each person’s fiber and they blended all of the fibers on the carder however they wished.  For next guild, I hope people will bring in their spun or felted creations!  I prepared alot for the demo, but I think it really paid off and I had fun doing it - which since I am not much into public speaking says alot hehe.  The only thing was it wore me out! Not that it takes much these days. =)  I’m thinking that I will eventually put my demo handout on my site so that it is available to everyone.  I also want to change the software I am using to Joomla which is broader than Wordpress so that I will have more of a website than just a blog so I will probably add the tutorial in then.  That will give me time to tweak the tutorial for the web too.

Since the demo, I had a chance to spin up the layers batt that I created for the demo.  I used 5 colors - 4 are colors that I dyed and 1 is commercial top that I bought but went so well I couldn’t resist using it.

 

 

I didn’t take a photo of the finished batt for some reason, but the layers are in order in the picture above.  The lighter pink on the right was the first layer on the carder and the light blue on the left was the last color on the carder.  I hand pulled the batt into a roving before I spun it:

 

 

I spun the yarn somewhat fine (for me anyways) though I haven’t done a wraps per inch on it yet. I think it came out really pretty:

I like it enough that I have dug out the remaining fiber in those colors and have been carding each color individually in preparation to make more of these batts.  I plan to sell the batts in my shop. I haven’t come up with a name for the colorway yet so any ideas are appreciated - leave me a comment!

I’ve also spun up some more of the grey/brown shetland:

I originally was spinning this and the light grey with the intention of making finished items for sale, but I’ve not had a chance yet so they might just be sold as handpsun instead. Who knows - maybe I’ll get a chance to figure out on paper how to make the hat idea in my head.

And because I like a little holiday stress (um yeah right!), I’ve challenged myself to completing a blanket for family.  In fact, I am really off my rocker and have the yarn picked for a second one as well.  I really don’t know what gets into me around the holidays, I just get this urge to make wooly presents for family.  The only problem being that I don’t think the family is really looking for any wooly presents so I always feel conflicted and never decide until the last minute if I will or not.  While I was moping about how no one wants a hat or scarf (lol) my hubby stated well everyone loves blankets - you could make everyone a blanket.  And I being equally crazy actually considered it.  So here I am.  One problem with blankets can be the expense, but I solved that one easily.  I went through my washable yarn stash and pulled together all the blues that I have irregardless of weight.  Then I looked through my stitch pattern book and chose feather and fan as my pattern.  I decided to make it big so I cast on enough stitches for it to be approximately 50in wide.  Here is a pic of it when I first started it:

 

I used garter for the first couple of rows in a dark grey yarn. Then each pattern repeat is a new color.  For the lighter weight yarns, I have been using multiple strands.  Some of the yarns also have texture to them but it is all pulling together nicely.  I probably have about 12in completed.  I have high hopes that I will finish this one at least in time for Christmas.  It is an easy pattern to remember so it has become my main project while I was prime time tv. 

 I’ve also finished one arm on the baby sweater and only have the other arm to complete now before it is done.  I’ve let myself get distracted with the spinning, carding and blanket so I haven’t even cast on the second arm yet.  Now that we know the sex though, I’m thinking about other projects for the little guy, so I expect I will get this one done soon!  Have any baby boy patterns you love? Give me details in the comments or drop me an email! =)